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Top Tips For A Healthy Blog…

Recently a few of my lovely followers asked me for some tips on how they could improve their blogging experience. Now although I’m no expert on the subject by any stretch of the imagination, I have been blogging for the last 18 months (Confetti and Curves is actually my 2nd blog) so it’s probably fair to say that I’ve learnt a few things along the way. However, everyone’s individual blogging goals & experience is very different. Some blog as a hobby, whereas others (such as myself) feel it’s essential for their career. Being a full time writer I believe it’s important to have a positive online presence, it also helps exercise my writing techniques, have fun and network with other writers and bloggers too – which is amazing for support & encouragement!

So to give those (who are interested) a smidgen of insight; when I started my very first blog, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! The rest of mankind seemed to be clued up on blogging yet little old me had clearly skipped class the day of that lesson. However through trial and error I managed to pull my socks stockings up and realised that there’s actually a certain knack to this malarkey… especially having hit a few potholes of my own, sighed at the misery of dead stats and dealt with the agony of bloggers block. So here’s what I’ve learnt from my own personal blogging mishaps & merriment…

Content:
Firstly it’s important to decide what you’ll blogging about. It might seem like a good idea to write about a mish-mash of unrelated things, but rather than spread your topics too thin & wide, consider what the bulk of your writing will contain and who’s going to benefit from your pearls of inspiration. Most of all write about things that genuinely excite or interest you, that way you won’t run out of steam too soon or end up pacing the floors with bloggers block. Remember, if it’s fun to write it’s more than likely fun to read!

Find Your voice:
Keeping posts cheery, humorous, helpful, informative but sprinkled with a unique dose of personality is always a juggling act, but in order to gain interest you need to find a voice & writing style that will encourage your readers to stay on the page. Rather than write like your composing a yawn inspiring text book, try to sound more like you’re chatting to a friend over a cuppa or humongous glass of wine for that matter *without the slurring & hiccups of course*

Design:
In my humble opinion design is hugely important – it’s the first thing your audience or potential new followers see when they first hit your page. It’s the face of your blog brand or an identity almost, and if it doesn’t reflect the content then it’s likely going to confuse or put readers off hanging around to find out more. If you’re stuck for colour or layout choices have a flick through some of your favourite glossy magazines or websites that have relevance to what you’re writing about. Make sure your blog is easy to navigate around too… it may seem totally on trend to have a flashy site packed full of bells and whistles but if someone easily confuddled (such as myself) comes along and can’t seem to find the start button then it’s more than likely they’ll be hitting the back button instead!

Interact:
So your blog looks like a slice of internet couture and your content seems sassy, yet no one’s saying hi or taking any notice of you, why?
On my first blogging adventure I found myself asking this question a little too regularly until one day the penny finally dropped… when was the last time I made the effort to read my follower’s posts? Had I ever even commented on any of their articles?
As you can imagine a big fat ‘POSSIBLY NOT’ was looming overhead like a giant blimp.
It takes time, effort and energy but if YOU make an effort to interact they *hopefully* will too; after all you’re not just in it to churn out articles day after day, you should be in it to learn, engage, have fun and feel inspired by others. Exercise those networking skills and you’ll soon see the results!

Promote:
Yet again another faux pas in my previous blogging experience… how is anyone expected to find my super-duper blog if the very creator isn’t shouting/ranting/flailing their arms in the air about it?
With social media tools such as HootSuite free to use, there’s no excuse for lack of self promotion. For those of you who aren’t clued up about it, check it out! Basically it’s a social media management dashboard that allows you to schedule various posts that will automatically be posted onto the likes of Twitter or Facebook. Take a moment to think about it… not everyone is on your time zone, so this is the perfect opportunity to reach a global audience whilst you’re tucked up in your cosy crib dreaming of your next dazzling blog article… Oh yeah!

Use Your Space:
Is your blog’s side bar decorated with pretty little widgets advertising where else to find you, what networks you may be part of, any recent blog awards & cool top posts for new follower’s to check out? If not, why not? There’s a whole empty strip of wasted space that you could fill with lots of your favourite articles… another way to tempt readers into clicking onto new content. Okay we’re not talking Times Square here, but as they say every little helps right?

Making Contact:
On occasion, pr companies or brands may want to drop you a line if they like what they see – it’s happened to me quite a few times now and this little blog just turned 2 months old! However in order to get in touch they’re going to need an email address to contact you on… and have you any idea the vast amount of bloggers that don’t have contact details on their site? Shockingly, quite a few!
Make sure your email address is visible – just in case the contact form happens to have a hissy-fit or the person simply just wants a good old fashioned @ address. It’s also a good idea to write a little bio about yourself; this doesn’t need to be your entire life story just a few paragraphs to inform the reader who you are & what you’re about, it simply lets the world know a little more about the person behind the blog.

How has your blogging journey been? Do you struggle in any particular area or alternatively have any top tips, thoughts or feedback to share? If so I’d love to hear from you in the comments below – you all know by now how much I enjoy a good old natter!

Hello, thank you so much for the lovely comment – always greatly appreciated 🙂 Delighted you found it useful, I guess we’re all on a very similar learning curve – all the best with your new blog, just had a peek, it looks fab! Thanks for the link! Karen X

Thanks so much Katie – you always leave such encouraging comments that are greatly appreciated chum 🙂 Delighted you enjoyed reading it – it was actually quite fun to write! Blogging’s always a learning curve… just as long as it’s a fun one right? lol Hope you’re keeping well huni Xo

You’re always welcome Karen. I love to encourage others and lifting them up. The blogging community is just so supportive and has been so wonderful. I just love all of the new people I’ve met and I love soaking up new information that I learn from everyone. I am doing well, thank you Karen I hope all is well with you too! 🙂 xo

Honestly Katie I feel exactly the same way… with starting Confetti & Curves I really wasn’t sure what response I’d get, particularly merging into a whole new subject – it seemed a little nerving. However the blogging community I’ve experienced has been one of support, friendship and encouragement. I absolutely love it – there are just so many incredible people out there that I now consider great friends 🙂 Great to hear you are well, same here too hun thanks!! Xo xo

i couldn’t agree more on this karen, i agree definalty that anyone with a blog should write about what they feel is true to them and not anyone else. also i think it’s safe to say being a positive bunny is also a good aspect of blogging as you want peolple to pay atention to your writing and be involved aswell and curious. thanks for the useful tips you are very helpful and not just to me to hundreds of beginers out there in the blogging world 🙂 x x

Can’t thank you enough for such a super supportive comment Millie – you’re a gem, this has made my day 🙂 I wholeheartedly agree… being positive and genuine are such valuable traits not just in blogging but in life too!! 😀 Xo

Thanks so much Asa for your lovely comment, as always it’s great to read your feedback 🙂 Yes blogging is incredibly time consuming isn’t it? Especially if posting multiple articles a week, plus there’s the behind the scenes work such as editing, photography etc which takes up huge chunks off time too!! However if you’re having fun it feels fantastic to be so wrapped up in it 🙂 My other blog was literally just the occasional ramble… usually about parenthood, writing, goings on. Nothing major, but hence why it just wasn’t working – I really wasn’t enjoying it so I knew it was time to move nward & upward 😀 x

Karen, those are indeed some amazing tips. Just like you, my current blog is my 2nd blog. 1st one was more personal, and i didn’t even know why I was blogging back then. But for the last 1.5 years, I’ve become a relatively serious blogger, more so in the last 6 months. I completely agree about interacting with fellow bloggers, and i personally feel that this indeed is the first step of blogging 🙂

Hi Anshul, thank you so much for stopping by & commenting!! Gosh our blogging journey sounds identical lol… I honestly believe my first blog was just a matter of finding my feet, riding the learning curve (I’m still on it lol) and getting to grips with what blogging is all about. I was also relatively shy about it too, not so much now though!! And yes, interaction is a huge part of a blogs success, if you’re not letting people know it’s there – how else can they find you right? It also helps build a small community on your page, I really can’t recommend networking enough 🙂 Great to hear you’ve really began to focus on it… it’s a beautiful blog – very well designed, really looking forward to reading your future posts!! Have also added you on BlogLovin to be sure I don’t miss any lol 🙂 Thanks again for your thoughts & kind compliments!!! Xo

Hi Berry, thanks so much for your kind comment – I hope it helps in some form or other. Oh, I can assure you I haven’t achieved super-huge goals, just having fun doing what I’m doing & meeting great new bloggers like yourself into the bargain… fab blog by the way – loving those make-up brushes!! 😀 Xo

Thank you so much Lynne, chuffed you like it. I have to say although I couldn’t be a designer where others are concerned, I find blog design one of the most fun processes when starting off – thinking of colour schemes & layout plans is really exciting to me!! lol Do you not find it difficult working with others, especially if they want something you might not think is over effective? Quite curious now Lynne!! 😀 Xo

It is also the most fun part for me! I have been lucky so far that my clients listen to my recommendations, sometimes you have to let them learn the hard way though 😛 They do sometimes insist on things that will look horrible or won’t work, but they mostly listen to the direction that I give them:) I absolutely love being a web designer and I love helping people make the most of their site 😀

You know Lisa, I’m beginning to likening it to riding a bike… takes a bit of kerfuffling before you finally get both feet on the pedals. We’re pedalling pretty okay though don’t think? Even if we have hit a few bumps along the way lol Thanks so much for commenting, much appreciated as always & glad you enjoyed the post… hope you’re keeping well 🙂 Xo

Thank you soooo much huni, glad you agree! I think it takes a while to get the hang of it… having a great community of bloggers to interact with makes all the difference!! We seem to be very blessed in that department 🙂 X

lol lol – this made me giggle so much!!! At least you have a contact page huni, many haven’t got that far… and you’ve just overlooked it right 😉 However now we can all email you til our hearts are content hehe Thanks for the highly amusing & super lovely comment X

Awwh thank you SO much – I’m so chuffed it came in handy for you huni 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by, for a brand new blogger your site is fantastic… really well done, you’ve got a new follower 😉 hehe XXX

Another helpful post Karen! I recently started blogging for myself, I have a business blog, but writing for myself is so different. It is nerve racking to put myself out there, but I’m enjoying having a voice! Question: what’s the difference between hootsuite and using the sharing feature provided by WordPress?

Thank you so much Mistie – that is so kind of you to say!! Oh I totally get the difference of writing for business Vs personal. I was self employed for many years and had alot of magazine editorials to write & online content – it’s a very different approach to writing for yourself 🙂
Great question!! The difference is that WordPress will only share your blog posts once it’s published (or you can reshare via the icons below your blog) whereas hootsuite is a programme where you can compose any type of social media message and include a link so it will effectively share whatever you want it to say at whatever time you want it too 🙂 It’s basically just pre-planning things you’d say on Twitter/Facebook etc so it’s keeping your page updated for you (and you can include links or photo’s if you please)

Hope that helps explain it a little better – I do have a tendancy to ramble lol XX

You are so welcome Monica!! Thank YOU for such an encouraging & kind comment!! I’ve just stopped by your blog & followed, so really looking forward to getting to know you better 🙂 Thanks again for such an awesome comment huni & of course stopping by… you’ve made my day!! XXXXX

So glad I stumbled upon your blog and these incredible tips! I agree that networking with fellow bloggers is so important, not just to get noticed, but it is such a wonderful support! We need that to help keep us going and ranting about the stuff we enjoy:)

Awwh Nena you’ve utterly made my day with such an encouraging comment – thank you so so much for such lovely feedback 🙂 Support from other bloggers is a huge driving force – I agree wholeheartedly that we absolutely need networking, support and encouragement to keep us going, especially during those tough days 🙂 Having great blog buddies has been such a blessing for me, so many wonderful people out there to chat with & be inspired by!
Thanks again for such kind words, lovely to meet you Nena! XXX

Thank you so very much, have just followed Nena so I can keep in touch 🙂 Looking forward to catching up with your posts now too… this is why I love networking so much, always great to meet lovely new online friends!!! Xo